0verhauled
by CodeBroken
Summary: A world filled with vicious underground beast. Leaders hidden by their own mask. Child soldiers sent out to prevent extinction of mankind. A boy lost sight in in all of it, too hopeless to keep standing. Held down from the mental hell of failure upon him, till one given him her hand and exchanged his heart. Could he shed the light and exposed the blinded world, blinded by rage?
1. Chapter 1: Lonely Dove

**Author's notes: Credit for finding mistakes in chapter 1: 00zau**

* * *

life fills in the recreated woods: a fish-filled lake, bugs on the leafs, apples and berries on the trees, a teenage boy, and many birds.

A white bird comes out of the great forest, above the trees. It reaches for the sun in the sky, but it hits an invisible ceiling of great illusion and delusion. The poor little thing falls into the ground full of soft green, but no trees. Coincidentally, it lands to next to its only witness, a black-haired teenage boy.

He saw the wonderful scene of unfortunate flight with his one and only functional eye.

He opens a book, has to flip the pages to look for an entry of a bird, whose image matches with the bird that's on the ground and seems dead. As the boy finally finds the entry for this bird, he stops looking at the bleeding corpse. He sits down and silently reads the passage as he toys with the strings of his eyepatch.

The sounds of desperate flapping interrupts the boy. He looks away from his book and their valuable pages, he sees the injured Dove fly into the dark depths of the forest.

He gets up and chases it, he must help it! After all, this is a part of the only purpose he can find within his life after being regarded as an 'living embodiment of failure'.

* * *

In its broken state, the bird flies through the land of trees and berries . It soars low and close to the earth's green hair. Through the dark tunnel of life, there is light ahead. And the bird repeatedly kicks on the ground to stay in the air, to fly into its goal of light in its dark journey.

As the bird keeps moving ahead, the light grows in size and it becomes a sun. Then it devours the dark wooden cave.

The bird made it, it flown into the land of paradise, an ordinary lake with ordinary fish.

For animals, it's wonderful.

For humans, it's a bore.

* * *

The exhausted bird lies down on the floor of living and fresh grass. It has gone to its desired destination, but it is still a bloody mess. It can't hardly fly to save its own life. All it can do is find any insects or find some seeds on the ground and feast on them. It can only hope for a miracle that its wounds heal up quickly, so it can fly again.

From the dark wooden cave, there are sounds of the grass getting stomp on by black shoes, they are pushing a boy's body towards the injured bird. The body is holding a book with both of its arms.

The head of the masculine figure looks at the white feathered victim in need of rescue. Its right eye focuses on the heavy breathing of the bird rather than his own, to properly check if it is still alive. The ears of the boy hears the unusual clicking noises of the bird, great pain comes out of the bird.

As it gets out of the woods the boy's body slows down till it stops at the point whem distance between them is so small and close. He sits down with both crossed legs. He uncages the book with his arms.

He peeks inside of the book. He tries to look for a page that'll tell him what do to with an injured bird. There are no pages in there that are related to his interest.

In great anger, he throws the book carelessly at the wet land. He looks around the wet land, he can at least find anything that can be used to help the bird. Simply wrapping the bird around with a towel or a piece of cloth can at least prevent the poor thing from getting infections.

He spots some clothes: panties, black tights, and a unique red parasite uniform that admittedly looks much better than the typical gray uniforms. The red uniform resembles a long-sleeved dress.

Something in the lake makes some splashes.

The boy picks up the red dress and turned his body. He looked at the book he thrown at the ground, he realizes there is a DENT on it. He is annoyed.

The boy turns his attention back to the bird. He gently wraps the long, red piece of clothing around the bird. Then, he lays down the bird to the soft ground.

He hears a huge splash from the lake as a girl goes underwater. His head turns to the spot in the lake where the splash is made.

For a second, he sees a girl.

Now, there is nothing. It's just the water that is always there.

He looks at the lake and watches it. The lake is silent and nothing is coming out of it.

Hiro is so afraid, so ashamed, so embarrassed.

Why can't he place any of the pieces together?

There were clothes here that would've led him to a trail and saved someone's life, instead he looked at the trail of bread and ate it, the ones who used it never came back home.

Why? Why? Why is he so useless? Such a hinderance, not for one, but to all.

Why did he get so caught up in his meaningless activities, as he dragged people down into the ship that sank while he got placed on the raft to live?

Why didn't Naomi's send off to the Seed stop Hiro from continuing his meaningless and useless practices?

Because of Hiro, the squad lost a valuable friend they had known since their childhood.

Why couldn't he just rode a Franxx with her? The other people in his squad worked together with their partner and operated their own Franxx. So why couldn't he done the same and just rode with her to victory?

"Why can't I be useful for once in my life?" He talked in somber.

He moves closer to the lake, right on the edge where the water meets the ground. Just to take a closer look at the waters that now serves as a grave. He thinks about the possibilities of a more fortunate future.

He wondered what he could've done if he just noticed this person earlier, if he could've prevented this tragedy, if he could've saved her. However, everything that was a piece of thought was just speculation no matter the debates.

Everything that occurred couldn't be undone. This incident was just another thing he accepted.

Some bubbles comes out of the water. A quick flash of a bleared, pink creature comes through the water, below the surface. It seems to be approaching the surprised boy.

Hiro thinks of the most horrifying thing that might be lurking in the lake.

Maybe it was a monster that taken the girl into the depths of the water. It probably drowned the girl and and contained her screams within the water, so no one heard them.

Now, it notices him! Now, it's his time to die and accept it as well!

It comes out of the water and it is a sight that truly fucks with Hiro's mind. It gets him to scream internally... A NAKED PINK-HAIRED BABE!

Her leap out of the water is truly a magnificent sight, a sight he unexpectedly loves. For a moment, the world slows down for him. He sees every detail of that tall feminine body, unfamiliar for the world of boys. He sees the curves of her body, her big breast jiggle, the fish in her mouth, and the shiny red horns on her head.

He saw the shiny red horns on her head!

Did he hallucinate a miracle and everything he sees was imagine? Did his mind force him to imagine this, to forget that she's dead?

He hasn't even notice it, but the girl already is on the solid ground, in the shallow parts of the lake. Now, she's aware of his presence as well.

Hiro looks like he has a heart-attack, after he gets through his first one in seconds.

The girl spits out the fish and ask, "is this an ocean?"

Hiro is confused.

"I thought you were dead, too." The girl says.

He heard the unthinkable.

Did she read the kind of books that Mitsuru reads religiously? Hiro read one page in Mitsuru's dark collection and he regretted it for the rest of his life.

"This ocean is really weird." Says the girl.

"Why do you want to swim in an ocean in the nude?" The boy wonders and questions.

The girl gets closer to the boy, whose one eye is screaming by this sudden puzzle, and it can't place the pieces together without breaking them. It doesn't help that she sniffs him out like a flower.

"To bathe."

Honestly, that isn't weird for Hiro. If a bird can take a bath in a public fountain, why can't a human bathe in a lake?

He realizes that the girl assumes that the water is an ocean. Yet, he wonders if he is ignorant about bodies of water or she is just stupid?

"Do you want to bathe, too?"

"Nah…" His voice lowers and his teeth clenches.

"But you have stared at this water for so long. It's like you wanted to swim in it. If you did, I couldn't blame you. This water felt so nice when it touched my skin and-"

His mind simplifies her paragraphs: Water. Water. Water. Blah. Blah. Blah. Jump in, boy. Jump in the water. Jump in with her. Don't you want that, Hiro?

Hiro snaps out of his horny mind and points to the red uniform on the ground, "I CAME HERE FOR THAT!"

She squishes her cheeks and let out a muffled "oh!"

She gets out of the lake completely and walks on the same ground as the boy. She grabs his shoulders and places his body right in front of her. Hiro looks at her in the eyes. Her grin forms her face, "So you're pervert! Do you like what you see? I could keep it on display... for you. Would you like-"

"NO!" The maniac speaks. "I just need that thing to carry what's inside of it, a bird!"

"Your food?"

"I'm bringing it to the nursery."

She stares at him with tight eyes. "You're weird."

To hear words like that come out of her mouth surprises Hiro.

As his eye turns away from her body, he says, "Why don't you wear some clothes before you say that again."

He tries so hard to keep his dignity (or what little he has left).

"Ok" She replies. "Just turn around. I'm uncomfortable when people see me putting on my clothes, but I'll be taking that uniform back."

He turns around in defeat. "Fine."

The girl picks up the clothes, one by one. She puts on a white headband that is wrapped nicely around her horns, it clicks on to the horns.

"You can look now."

The boy turns his head, he sees a naked horned girl wearing a headband.

His eye opens. "I thought you said- Just put what you have-"

The clothes on her hands rips are torn to shreds. She stretches a bit and gleefully aims the ball of destroyed fabric to the high tree of the forest, only to have the ball fall apart and its pieces blow away to the trees of the. She seems to moving like she is displaying her body to Hiro.

No, she is displaying her body!

Hiro's embarrasment provides his face with red blushes on his cheeks. His own hands covers up his right eye and his eyepatch (despite only having one eye that can actually see her).

"Come on, I know you want to see more of this!" She giggles and childishly spins around.

"You're right... it's just... I don't know." Hiro feels so uncomfortable. There's something about this that should scream to him as heaven but he is too conflicted to accept it.

"I think it's because... I don't deserve this..."

Unexpectedly, she charges at him and pulls his head to her face, she licks his face. Her eyes get filled with fascination.

"Your taste… It makes my heart pound…" Her eyes become seductive. "It's a taste of danger..." Her mouth opens wide and displays her teeth, featuring sharp canines. "You have earned this."

Everything starts to feel weirder for Hiro (somehow).

With both of her hands, she pushes him to the ground. Her body pins down him like a nail.

"Do you have a partner?" Her gentle voice comes out. It's soft like a pillow.

"No." The boy shames himself.

His face fills in the information for the girl. She doesn't need any more pieces. She understands the full picture.

"Do, you want one?" She questions.

Hiro nods.

She whispers into his ear, "Do you want to be my darling?"

Without knowing it, she places Hiro in a mentally tight spot.

Darling was a word that was unfamiliar to Hiro. He realized that he had read about the word a dictionary. He known it's been used to address one's beloved one. He only knew about one thing that used words connected to that idea, but it was in a different book.

"You mean like the doves?" Hiro questions.

"Like the doves." She calmly respond, even though she has no idea about what she actually says.

Before Hiro can ask any questions, there is rustling in the woods.

The girl gets up from Hiro and says, "Times up..."

"Sorry, whoever you are." Her voice gets colder.

"Hiro." He calmly spoke.


	2. Chapter 2: It Ends with a BAM!

Author's notes: The tenses are fixed!

* * *

A man in a fancy blue parasite uniform walks out from the woods. Several unique-looking bald men wearing strange glasses and black suits are behind him. The army of bald men appears to be much more serious and secretive than the typical A.P.E. soldiers, who are seen in a daily basis.

The man in the blue uniform seems to be in great pain, just by looking at the medical equipment that is covering up his injuries. He is wearing a plastic mask on his face to help him breathe. His hair is short, but it appears to be drained out of its color.

The horned girl has a scowl on her face. She walks directly to the gray-haired man with folded arms.

"You have caused us a lot of trouble, you little fiend!" The man coughes and pounded his chest. "It's already outrageous that you keep running off without our permission but to see you like this is-" His head violently faces to the ground and his left arm covers his mouth, it muffles the cough. "Now, I know why he forced us to carry that long white jacket."

"It's not like there is anything to do here." The girl argued.

"And we're only supposed to be here for a day, so put this on." The grayed hair man has no patience. One of the bald guys hands him a very militaristic white hat.

He slams the hat on to her head like she's a doll.

A couple of bald men approaches the girl from behind. They place a long white jacket around her shoulders, caging her and containing her like a zoo animal.

The gray-haired man turns to Hiro and says, "I'm sorry that you have to deal with code Iota, she isn't like us..."

When her code was called, the girl looked furious.

Before Hiro says anything. The man points to his casted right arm, "This is why you should stay away from her."

Hiro is terrified, but his curiosity still drags him.

"Who are you?" Hiro said.

"Her partner and your temporary protector, for now." It's the man's last sentence.

The man turns away from Hiro, he waves his hand to the woods, catching the eyes of the bald men and the covered girl. Everyone, except for Hiro, walks into the forest.

From Hiro's perspective, they are disappearing into dark and mysterious land.

* * *

Hiro is running through the circular building underneath the land of green. He looks around the flat area of red and white, he seeks the golden stairs.

Quickly, he realizes he is in the wrong hall. He panics, turns, and runs. He runs through several halls and find the pair of escalators. He uses his key card and goes through the seemingly holographic wall that typically blocks out any ordinary Parasites from entering the stairs.

He takes the escalator, those stairs bring him down into the depths of the circular building. The escalator pulls him out from the world of white. A black city of tall buildings surrounds the atmosphere and its colors of gold echoes through the physically black landscape.

All of it appears blurry, when Hiro runs down to the roaming stairs and holds on to the rails of the escalator.

Quickly, the gold colors are faded into the air as Hiro approaches the light below him. He is now on the next floor of the building. Upon getting off the escalator, he immediately turns to the other escalator that's relatively close to him.

He goes on it, the familiar buildings and the golden bright colors return to take over the atmosphere.

This time, Hiro is cutting ahead of the long row full of mostly covered men and women on the stairway.

The bullets speeds through the other floors and escalators that are below them, eventually the line of adults dissapears when they reach a floor, which is skipped by Hiro.

* * *

Hiro runs through a couple of halls and is a bit out of breath.

Upon finding his destination, his speed decreases. He puts on hands on his legs and bends his spine forwards. After he shoves the air into his nostrils and relaxingly blows off the carbon dioxide from his body, he stands and he straightens up his back. His steps are much more calm as he walks into the restricted room and goes through its door, by using his pass.

There, he is greeted by a patient red haired woman who goes by the name, Nana, and an annoyed little boy that gives Hiro a very unpleasant look.

The woman is standing up and she place her hands on her waist, she has a very serious look on her face. The little boy is sitting on his large desk, his arms are hanging out, as it lacks a lot of energy. That little guy's face makes Nana's seriousness look fake and plastic in comparison.

Nana doesn't seem to mind Hiro's tardiness, she shows Hiro his table and presents Hiro with a chair. Before Hiro can take his seat, a little boy points out something unusual.

"Why is there blood on your uniform?" The small man said.

Hiro reacts very nervously, "I took it off. I brought an injured dove into the nursery. On my way there, there was an unusually colored dove that followed me from behind. So, I brought it with me as well-"

"So you wasted everyone's time just to bring two useless birds to a nursery. And one of them isn't even injured." The little boy said it with his unimpressed voice. The little boy's soulless eyes filled the room.

Hiro struggles to speak as 16 stares at him with his empty black eyes. "But it-it was... its mate-"

"Stop it, 16!" Nana commanded. "I'm sorry, Hiro, but we matters to go through today."

Hiro sits down on his seat. 16 looks away from Hiro and stares on his desk, waiting for the assignment to land on his table.

Nana takes away Hiro's and 16's communicators from their hands. She takes out two tablets and places them on Hiro's and 16's desks. The two boys pick up the tablets and begin to do their test.

Hiro skips pass the instructions and the title of the test (because he already knows them). He begins to read the first question.

 ** _What caused humanity to move into the plantations and who were the ones that established the plantations?_**

Hiro feels like his intelligence is being heavily underestimated. He answers it.

 ** _The first klaxosaur attack in the 21st century causes humanity to resort to living in plantations. The scientist group called A.P.E. are the ones to introduce the plantations as a way for humanity to survive any further klaxosaur attacks._**

He reads the next question.

 ** _What are Franxx? What is their purpose? Who is responsible for their creation? Who rides them? Please, be very specific._**

Hiro feels like a little kid. He types down on the digital keyboard with little determination.

 ** _A Franxx is a giant robot created by A.P.E. with a purpose to protect humanity from Klaxosaurs. The people who ride them are Parasites, they form in pairs of two to pilot one. The female partner acts as the Pistol and the male partner acts the Staman._**

Hiro scrolls down and he sees that the other questions are going to be the kind that only people without brains can't survive from.

It wasn't because of 16, despite his young age, 16 was far smarter than anyone in squad 13, 16 also had the most impressive grades.

The test was supposed to be the most important thing Hiro and 16 ever taken and it was only made for their intelligent minds, but it's easy as hell.

Hiro studied for several months for this test and all of that knowledge he learned was worthless.

Hiro wonders what squad 13 is doing in the ceremony

* * *

Mitsuru looks very mopey and bored during the ceremony. He and the other squad members are attached to their partners by their pinky fingers with a small, stylized band. They are wearing special adjustments, which are added over their dull parasite outfits, and a neat white puffy hat that helps them to appear to fit in a ceremony.

They were on a long red rectangular carpet that begins from the elevator to the room that is readjusted into a stadium, just for the four pairs of parasites that stand on the carpet. To the sides of the parasites, there are rows of adults that were completely covered by their outfits (except from the area of the upper lip to their chins).

The adults wear a white headdress, which covers their torso and head, and a long garment that contains two solid colors, black and blue or black and green. Some of the adults are holding on to golden binoculars, shining with a familiar glowing yellow, and looks at the parasites with them.

In front of the parasites, there are six A.P.E. members that sit at their long white desk. All six A.P.E. members are wearing beautiful white outfits, the outfits are covered in sharp golden lines, it covers them head to toe. Also, they're wearing grey mask consisting a resemblance of the faces of monkeys and apes.

Behind the A.P.E members is a small white tower that rises over them and their table, it's meant for the one who rules over all of humanity, Papa, a being in a white robe, which contains a golden zigzag pattern on them. His mask also resembles an ape, but its colors are a bright gold and it has an adorable smile on it.

Papa is on that tower, he stand up from his seat. His arms rises up and his bold voice echoes through the entire room. The environment warms up.

His sound is so full of praise for their achievement, becoming successful parasites, it pours on the parasites like heavy rain.

The most of the parasites are trying to hold on their stance and mature appearance but Papa's voice breaks through their facade and the smiles the parasites that the parasites hide within their hearts are unleashed. Mitsuru's face is still sour, despite everything that he is given. A blond female pistol in one of parasites pairs is clueless on what she should do. The blond girl smiles when she notices that her round partner and the other members in her squad are smiling.

Mitsuru isn't engaged in the ceremony as much the other squad 13 members.

He looks at the crowd of adults and seeks to find something that can catch his eye.

He notices that there is an old man in the crowd. The old geezer has robotics on his body, it replaces his jaw and right eye. He also worn a lab coat.

He never seen that old man before

Next to the old guy is Hachi, who has an emotionless face, he wears a dark, militaristic outfit. Before Mitsuru turns his head away from the two men, he notices an adult, the guy wears a distinct red, black, and long garment.

The adult is doing something so unusual and shocking by only using his exposed mouth. The adult is yawning heavily with his stretching jaw. Mitsuru looks at the man with annoyed eyes that tell him to knock it off.

The adult turns his head to Mitsuru, noticing the attention he's receiving. The adult yawns in a very exaggerated way with one hand waving to his opening mouth.

Mitsuru is getting really pissed off! He crushes his teeth tight.

The adult yawns again but this time he waves both hands to his mouth.

Mitsuru may not be able to see the man's covered eyes, but he can still see those eyes of disrespect swimming in satisfaction as it dances in its hot tub, it's warmed up by using Mitsuru's burning rage.

Suddenly, there is a sudden crash of force that attacks the entire room! It topples down the parasites to the ground. Several adults are thrown out of their seats by it.

The ground is shaking in fear of the unknown force, it can bring down the end of every single life that lies within the Plantation.

Papa and the other A.P.E. members are not afraid and they appear to be tapping the air with their right hands. It's like they are not in this room at all.

Alarms are set off!

Soldiers arrive!

"EVERYONE REMAIN CALM AND STAY WHERE YOU ARE!" The Soldiers commanded.

Mitsuru is getting paranoid, he looks over to the spot where three distinct men are supposed to be. Hachi is holding on to the old man to prevent him from wandering off. However, the yawning man is gone.

* * *

Author Notes:

How does anyone feel about the inclusion of 16 in this story?


	3. Chapter 3: Isolation

Author's notes: tenses are fixed, new scene is included.

let me know if you spot any tense related mistakes.

* * *

From the view of the parasites' elevator, the man in red and black can see a wide area of the shining city full of _energy_.

It is partly infected by the bright light that doesn't belong there, the light from the outside.

It may be terrifying to even think that out there, something manages to break through that thick and unbreakable wall. But to some people, it is a wonderful scenery to keep them curious, to keep them afraid, to keep them alive.

Ethan is one of these people. Curiosity and fear was the beauty he saw from the light of flames, from his spot in the elevator. He even pulled up the binoculars on a stick that hadn't been used in centuries.

He uses them to take a closer look on the gates of hell, the hole in the wall.

It appeared that whatever attacked the wall, it caused some of the wall's tough and thick steel to be melted off.

It doesn't seem big enough for any big creature to fit through it.

Ethan's eyes are stucked to the binoculars and those binoculars are aimed at the hole itself. However, nothing is coming out of the flames. The expectations of death seemingly fades away by the fog of doubt that slowly takes over Ethan's mind. The binoculars slowly face away from the hole.

It found nothing on the land of golden light that indicated that anything from the outside had physically invaded it; there were no klaxosaurs and there were no traces of one, just an empty city where every living being lied inside the towers that conquered the electrical land.

In his confusion, Ethan takes the binoculars off of his eyes. Before Ethan can even think about debating the scene, his eyes see something that is right in of him, a Franxx in the air that's coming into the hole of light, a path that leads to an early grave.

Ethan places the machinery back to his eye level and he immediately realizes something; the Franxx is too small to be a Franxx as its size is dwarfed by the buildings around it. Meaning, this machine isn't built to be controlled by two people, but one person.

The only mecha capable of being piloted alone is a simulator.

* * *

Back when the Franxx Program started. The lovely group of scientist in A.P.E. had designed simulators that were supposedly replications of the Franxx. The first Parasites were trained under this method.

However, the these trained Parasites were dead under about thirty seconds after they were sent outside. The causes of death were not releated to any fights or Klaxosaur encounters, it was caused by the Parasites' lack of confidence.

Apparently, when they had designed these simulators, they were nothing like the Franxxs at all: First, the simulators were very thick and hard machines while the Franxxs were slim and agile soft-bots. Second, the simulators didn't had the Franxxs' feminine body-type or the flexibility of that body type. Finally, the simulators were never designed for _flight_...

When the first Parasites rode actual Franxxs, they were ordered to fly around and inspect the area outside the plantations. The Parasites activated their thrusters, uncontrollably span into the air, and fallen from great heights.

All of the Parasites fallen to the ground, right in the head of the Franxx. As the head was crushed, the riders inside of the head were mashed into a pile of meat.

After that embarrassing mistake, the simulators were remade into smaller versions of Franxxs, which was the obvious direction that the scientist of A.P.E. should had taken from the start.

Because no one wanted to be blamed, everyone who participated in the prototypes blamed the guys who came up with the Franxx in the face first place, despite the two men being the ones that told them, "Just grab the Franxx blueprints and make smaller versions of that robot. Stop bothering us! All of you are scientist, have faith in yourselves, dammit!"

Today, the creators of the Franxx still find this story to be absolutely ridiculous, one of them finds it hilarious and the other is just disappointed.

The A.P.E. council now has a close eye on any Franxx-related project, just to ensure that this great stupidity from humanity never repeats.

* * *

Ethan knew that the simulators were just below him, on the bottom floor, and someone took one and flown it right under a distracted Ethan in an elevator. He known that there was only one possible person that could had been inside of that mecha.

He pulls up a rectangular white device and calls someone. He waits and listens to the ringing.

The call is picked up.

"CODE 016!" The man shouted. "What are you doing?"

A voice low of energy comes out of the device. "Waiting inside the building, under the orders of Nana."

The man smirks, he thinks to himself and digs into his vastly superior intelligence.

Hiro is sure to be an unexpected fellow.

Maybe the man should participate in Hiro's little game. He does want to see what interesting data he can get off from the boy. According to Ethan's mind, it'll be funny if that boy thinks he can outsmart anyone, especially Ethan. Hiro will be freaking out and attempt to keep the lie up as much he can.

"Ok, Hiro." The man holds in his laughter. "Wait in there."

Ethan ends the call. He chokes his attempts to contain his laughter, it is a form of energy that is too unstable to be in a human's throat. He coughes out, places his hands on the glass walls of the elevator, and giggles.

* * *

In 16's hands, there was Hiro's communicator, which was left in the bin at the test room. He was all by himself. He was silenced that anyone would mistook him for that thing, an abomination that didn't fulfilled his purpose nor obeyed the protocol.

It's a wonder to the little boy that the machine will keep a virus within its system.

* * *

In the humanoid mecha, Hiro is flying into the sun. He is prepared to be burned off by it. As the colors of gold is washed away by the light of life, Hiro can feel death from the shadow the light casted on him.

The walls of protection will abandon him when he reaches to the outside.

The female mecha is flying through the hole. It travels to the world of the sun, a desert absent of water but is filled with freedom.

From up in the light blue sky, Hiro can see a Klaxosaur on four legs circling around a large hole in the ground. It's white, it's robotic as any other klaxosaur, it resembles a big cat, it has blue liquid dripping from its mouth.

There is a trail of black robotic parts that leads into the giant hole. The black parts leaks out some blue liquid. Hiro soars above the battlefield and examines it.

In his mind, he envisions a future, a horrendous future. If he doesn't prevent that wild beast from getting into the hole, all of the Franxx inside of it will be rip apart into pieces.

Without the Franxx, there is no protection. Without that protection, there is no distractions against the klaxosaur. Without the distractions, the Klaxosaur can resume its objective and kill many civilian lives just from breaking into the plantation.

He has to do something or all of the blood that is spilled by that thing will be poured on his hands. It can stain him far more than his other failures.

He circles the distracted lioness from the sky.

He stares down at the beast, holds on to the handles with both hands, waiting. The headless humanoid mecha tightly holds on to the spear. The small, white hawk strikes down to the giant, white lioness. It allows gravity to pull on it, the wind can do so little to slow down the falling mecha. The ground and the big cat are growing in size. The dropping white soldier positions the spear. As it lands on the beast, the lance stabs through the monster's back.

There were small cracks around the spot the lance landed, it deeply dug into it. Blue blood leaked out.

The four-legged monster screams in pain and tilts its head to the skies, the roar echoes throughout the land and vibrates the terrified sand.

It's not dead…

It shakes its entire body. Hiro barley holds on to the spear that is attached to its back. The legs of his mecha is barely itself holding together from the recoil it receives.

Soon, the beast realizes that the insect is still in its back. It begins to roll on the ground, to crush the bug by smashing it into the ground. Hiro tries to take the spear out of the beast, but he lets go of it as soon the beast's back is about to land on the ground.

The lioness's back lies on the ground. Hiro's lance breaks and crumbles into pieces, but some of it is still in the big cat's back.

Hiro is back into the skies and his mecha's thrusters are still in a good condition. The big cat gets back on all four legs. Things are the same as before, but this time the predator is now aware. The big cat is staring directly at its prey in the skies.

Its tail moves and it aims at the flying simulator. A burst of energy is in the mechanical tail. The beast positions itself to hold on to the ground, preparing to withstand what it is about to unleash.

Hiro holds on to the handles, he is prepared to boost away at any moment.

Before the energy comes out, the earth under the white cat is ripped apart, a black prehistoric monster comes out of the cracked ground. The dinosaur slams its head directly to the belly of the kitty, tossing the white cat into the sky.

The air doesn't spare the white beast from the hard ground, it lifelessly lands on there.

The big-headed black dinosaur lands on the sand on both of its legs, but it also drops down to the ground. Hiro realizes it is missing half of its face. The black monster lays on the ground, it struggles to get up with its two hind-legs (as its forearms are just two small triangles).

The large T-rex is low in its energy, which is indicated from its mechanical blue strips of life fading in its color. It needs to recover from the overwhelming recoil.

The robotic lioness on the ground has its head unsealing.

Hiro flies to what his curiosity guides him to go.

His mecha reaches to the ground and it shakes a bit, Hiro is very close to the big cat as its head opens and steam comes out. A grey-haired man in prosthetics drops out of the opening head. Hiro gets out of his mecha seat, drops to the ground, and runs after the man on the ground. He checks the guy's pulse, it isn't a man anymore, it is just a man's corpse.

A familiar female voice has come out of the unsealed cockpit, "Don't bother with him. I warned him that his presence wasn't necessary." A feminine figure in red limps out from the rectangular hole.

Her eyes are lowered and a small smile is placed on her face, it expresses her fangs.

It was the pink-haired girl Hiro had seen earlier, except she was in a tight, red pistol suit. There was blood on her face, some of it stained her hair.

Hiro twitches his right eye. He realizes the situation.

He didn't saved any Franxxs from a Klaxosaur, he distracted their own protector and gotten it attacked by a Klaxosaur. He helped a Klaxosaur!

Her head lowers down and her eyes look into Hiro's eye.

"You had been a bit wild out there. Believe it or not, you had left a mark on me." Her voice was slow, but her smile widened. Her arm on the doorway supports her limping body. She places her right hand on her back.

Hiro is stained by the compliment, his face isn't filled with achievements or satisfaction, only guilt.

His face begs for a way out.

"You could pilot with me." The answer spoked to Hiro and it sounded like a limping girl.

Hiro was reluctant. If he couldn't pilot a Franxx back then, he couldn't pilot one now. "I can-can't… I never had."

The pinked-haired girl tightly crushes her lips. "You're looking at this wrongly, it's not about the robot, it's about your partner. You just to find her."

Hiro can't believe in any fantasies. All he does is screw up everything that shows up to be in his hands, what makes this different? No sound has come out of the boy.

"Hmmm..." The girl said it with less energy.

Her smile is erased. She turns her body to the area inside the metallic cave.

Hiro is confused.

"What are you doing?" He said.

Her face is still looking away from him. "The thing you do, doing it alone."

"But that's not it should be!"

The girl in red turns her head back to the boy, her smile returns. She gives him a hand to grab. "You could correct that."

Hiro is hesitant, he grabs her hand. Easily, she lifts him up from the ground and brings him inside the Franxx.

Before Hiro says anything, the girl places her right hand on his left check. She KISSES HIM right on the cheek. Hiro's breath is taken away.

"Take your seat, darling." The sound of care warms up Hiro.

The girl smirks at his face of exposed vulnerability.

* * *

Outside, the Klaxosaur is brought back to life. Although it struggles, it rises from the ground and stands up on its two legs.

It lets out a deep and quiet sound of despair from its demolished face. Slowly, it walks to the hole that it left on plantation.

Its sluggish steps becomes more confident, its speed increases.

* * *

The white Franxx on the ground starts to transform.

It sluggishly stood up on two legs, its front paws become hands with five fingers, its head resembles a serious female head in a helmet.

The mecha no longer looks like a wild animal, instead it is an intimidating feminine warrior in armor. The merciless Franxx flies to the roaming Klaxosaur, and it swings its lance directly to the Beast's missing face.

The black giant doesn't see it coming. It groans in pain.

Before the Franxx can touch the ground, the dinosaur whacks it with its large tail. The blow harshly places the Franxx far from the mauled black creature, but relatively close to the Plantation.

The Klaxosaur positions itself, it opens its jaws wide to reveal a cannon inside of it. Its tail splits wide open, it looks like the black dinosaur is absorbing a large amount of energy from it.

The armored knight attempts to throw its lance directly to the cannon that is about to fire, however the white Franxx's back pain causes the lance to miss its target. In punishment, a great deal of bright blue energy hits the mighty mecha. It causes the mecha to lose its balance and feel a great sense of pain throughout its entire body.

The white warrior kneels and places its left hand was on its shoulder.

The plantation's walls appears to not be damaged at all from the blast.

The machine's face expresses a dash of pain, a bit of irritation, and a great deal of determination. It stands back up. The black monster recharges its cannon, but this time for much longer, to build up enough energy to wipe out the Franxx. Franxx pulls the black cord that is attached from its body and to the lance that is thrown. The pull is so intense, the lance flies back into the Franxx's hands.

In a quick motion, The lance flies out of the mecha's hands. It flies through the charged cannon. The black terror is no more, it is just a black mass of parts that is covered in blue blood.

The Franxx walks to the corpse. It inspects the mess and it pulls out its lance from out of the creature's body.

It appeared that the Lance also broken through an orb, it used to be filled with the golden liquid of _life._

Hiro did it.

He had killed a Klaxosaur.

* * *

Notes from the author:

What did you think of the Hiro and 02 scene? I hoped I did something good for them here.

I want just want their conversation way more memorable than what we get in the anime

Because a lot of the lines in episode 1 felt really awkward and forced.

What are your opinions on Ethan? Do you think his presence is a welcoming addition in this fanfic?


	4. Chapter 4: Odd Mourning

Hiro lies on his bed with a closed eye, an eye that is going to open soon.

Did Hiro dream up the entire experience and mistakes it for reality? Did he know that it was a red herring, since he saw the girl with red horns?

Besides her, there were other signs it must had been fake. There's no way he could've confused the blue fluid in the Franxxs with the Klaxosaur's blood, he known that the substances were different. There's no way a Franxx would ever resembled a monster or even functioned with only one rider. There was nothing that stated that Franxxs had multiple forms.

Perhaps, Hiro secretly antagonized the Franxxs the whole time, his imagination just went when they're involved.

Before Hiro begins to open his eye to reality, he thinks about what will happen in the real world.

He hopes he can do what is done in his dreams.

He feels heat from a body that wraps its arms around him. This might be the sign of a new beginning.

Hiro opens his eye.

Face to face, he sees a girl with long pink hair and red horns. She is smiling at him.

"Woken up, Darling?" She released her familiar voice.

Hiro didn't dreamed up anything, it actually happened!

16 lies on the floor, his pillow covers up his face and his body is turned away from Hiro's bed. The kid's hatred is still burning high.

If Hiro was aware of boobs, he would had known that the two soft pillows on his chest weren't pillows.

The girl is on Hiro's bed and she is hugging him. Her hug is comforting for Hiro, but she is still a girl and Hiro is unfamiliar to their kind of distinct skin and body. He fears the unknown.

Hiro ask a girl a favor, "Can you please get out of my bed?"

The girl rolls out of Hiro's bed and lands on 16's bed, which isn't used by 16 himself for obvious reasons (considering that the girl barely does anything to get on there). Despite the new distance between her and Hiro, she is still smiling at the boy, but she looks a bit more naughty.

Hiro finally notices that the girl is wearing white headband that makes her horns appear fake, and a long-sleeved jacket.

It was the same jacket that was placed on her body from yesterday, meaning she still didn't had her fancy clothes. Meaning, she wore nothing underneath her jacket.

He is quite amused. A hill rises up from Hiro's blanket.

The horned girl looks at Hiro's achievement. She smiles a little wider and she places her finger on her teeth. Her finger scratches at her teeth and her eyes have a perverted desire.

The bedroom door opens, Ichigo walks into the room. She looks at 16's bed, she has gotten angry that 16 still doesn't follow her orders and there is another disobeyer on 16's bed.

The girl in the cap yells at the disobedient girl, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE! You're supposed to be in the attic!"

The tall girl on the bed ignores the small teenager, she continues to stare at Hiro. Hiro doesn't even care about the noise, he is too fascinated on the horned girl. 16 is dreaming about the day Ichigo allows him to sleep in the attic.

The small girl is angry, but she wonders what the horned girl is staring at. Ichigo looks at the road's destination, she becomes the second member of Hiro's audience.

For a moment, Ichigo stares at blanket mountain. However, she snaps out of the brainwashing.

Ichigo growls. "No! This shouldn't be allowed! Boys and girls are supposed to live in separate beds, Iota.

If you don't follow this, I will kick you out of here. Understand?"

The girl on the bed is frustrated. "Fine."

The horned girl stands on the bed and jumps on it. She nods to Hiro and grabs his attention. Before she jumps to the ground, she lifts up her jacket then quickly pulls it.

Ichigo is disgusted by the lack of decency, she tugs her cap and covers her eyes . Hiro breathes hard and heavy, he wonders what is wrong with himself.

The girl, in only one piece clothing , leaves out of the room with a smug on her face.

She had shown some competition against the competitor.

—-

Downstairs, there is a dining table. The horned girl sits on the seat that's reserved for 16, which will be great news for him because Hiro's reserved seat is next to it.

The horned girl's white jacket is stained in honey.

All of her food is eaten and nearly all of the honey is drained out, yet she stays on her seat.

She is waiting for someone.

The squad members come to this room, all of them are filled with disappointment. Unlike the girl, the squad members are following their schedule (except for Hiro).

Zorome and Miku are depressed when they find that only a couple of ounces of honey in a tiny adorable glass. Zorome is bitter when Miku yells at him for grabbing it, but he ultimately gives it up.

Goro witnessed that scene. He would've killed for that glass of honey but he knew it would've disturbed the peace.

Ikuno is more of a fan of having strawberries in her pancakes. However, she finds that the strawberries are gone. She tries to apply other fruits to her pancakes but they're also gone

Futoshi doesn't seem surprised by the disappearance of the fruits. It's unusual because he's normally is the first guy to place them on his plate. Also, he's normally first guy to get furious in this kind of situation.

Kokoro looks at her plate with the same boring smile on her lips and eats the piece of tasteless card as if nothing has happened.

Mitsuru just grabs a plate and finds food to shove onto it. After he has done that, he hardly looks or touches his food, he just reads a book and acts like nothing odd has happened this mourning.

Ichigo takes off her cap and scratches her head, while she stares at the completely plain waffles on her plate. She looks at the horned girl with frustration.

16 doesn't care, he just wants to follow the protocol and eat his plain food, he has to finish it before Hiro arrives. Unfortunately for him, Hiro has arrived.

Now, the one-eyed boy can witness the impressive scenery of a table full of plain and tasteless food. He hears some patting on wooden material. He looks at the sound's origins and finds a pinked-haired girl patting at his seat.

He decides to take his seat even though eating nothing is a better option at this point.

He walks to his seat, almost everyone at the dining table stares at him and the tall girl, the scene is too odd. The way the girl behaves is just strange in general, but seeing Hiro acting this way is also strange, he actually seems to be less depressed to be here.

Before Hiro takes his seat, the tall girl gently holds his hand as he lowers down his body, comforting him. She releases her grip when Hiro lands on his chair.

Now, Hiro looks at his empty plate. Before he is about to pick it up, the horned girl takes out food from her jacket pockets and puts them on Hiro's plate. The plate is now a place for fruit, ham, and bread, all the them are covered in honey.

The squad has been shocked, they haven't suspected that bread is supposed to be served this mourning.

Futoshi takes out his hand from his pocket, he nervously bites into his piece of bread. But no one notices it, their attention is on the girl and the food that has appeared on Hiro's plate.

Hiro looks at the food, but he doesn't have an appetite (as usual). He just weakly stabs on the ham with the fork.

Hiro's audience stares at him, wondering if he will actually eat that disgusting ham.

He stabs it and stabs it again, but he can't will himself to eat or will himself with some pride. The food itself doesn't bother him, the selfishness of eating it doesn't bother him, but the fact he gets to eat it does bother him. Why does he deserve it?

The horned girl grabs the sticky ham, everyone expects her to eat it, but she shows her ham-filled hand to Hiro. "Come on, Darling, say 'aah'!"

Mitsuru looks away from with a disturbed face, with eyes of paranoia. He finally witnesses the scene.

Zorome finds the whole thing hilariously childish, but the other squad members generally don't even grasp at any ideas. They are confused.

Hiro blinks a bit and looks side to side, before he opens his mouth. "Ahhhhhhh."

The girl gently places the ham onto his mouth. After landing on there, he manages to swallow it whole.

She closes her eyes and smiles to the one-eyed boy.

Hiro actually swallowed that honey-covered abomination.

In the view of the disturbed. Miku holds her mouth with one hand, feeling the urge to puke. She throws the tiny glass of honey to Zorome.

Only because the glass is approaching his face, Zorome catches it. As Zorome looks at the disgusting object in his hands, he tongue pops out and his scowl forms hard and solid. Goro takes the glass out of the boy's hands.

Hiro and the pink-haired girl are the only ones that are enjoying this breakfast, not including two teenage boys, one tall, one a bit round in shape. It's a mystery as to why the round one is in a good mood.

After Hiro finishes his longest breakfast (with a helping hand) and most of the audience has disappeared, the horned girl makes a bratty demand, "Darling, you have to go outside with me!"

"Huh?"

"I have spent my time and energy to help you digest your food. I'm not going to leave without an exchange from you."

"You do know I have already told you my name is Hiro."

"I know, Darling. People called me Iota when I said 'I am 02.'"

Did Hiro run into another person that hates names?

"Ok… 02. You just want to go outside with me? For what?"

"Something ridiculous, like feeding food to a toddler."

"You want to feed baby birds with me?"

02 wasn't referring to any birds.

02 grabs Hiro's arm, "Enough talking, Darling. It's time to go!"

Ichigo tries to stop 02's show. "No, Iota. It's against policy to walk around outside in outfits like that. Until you wash that outfit, you can't leave this place!"

Shocking Hiro and Ichigo, 02 unbutton her sticky jacket and takes it off her body. "It's been a chore to wear that thing."

02 grabs some napkins from the table to wipe away the remaining honey that is on her body, which is a lot.

Ichigo holds her teeth tightly and her eyebrows tries to clash with the other. "No. You can just walk around like that, it's against policy.

An exhausted 16 pops in and reveals the outlandish. "It's policy to only walk around in our non-private or reserved grounds when our outfits approaches the standards for those areas, but there's no policy to actually wear an outfit."

"No, there is no way that it can be true." Ichigo can't believe that such a ridiculous loophole like that has ever existed, not just because the horned girl has a better body than her.

Hiro calls to 02. "So, 02…what should we do today?"

02 turns to Ichigo with a grin of mockery.

"But 16 is just making stuff up, he just wants you to leave 'his peaceful territory." Ichigo argues.

"But Me and 16 were the only ones that recently checked the rules again just for the exam. I believe that we just taken that exam just a few hours ago."

Hiro never realized how much time had passed when he was knocked out.

16 points to the area behind him, it's his way of saying 'leave'.

The naked 02 grabs Hiro's arm and happily drags the boy to the front door.

16 picks up 02's jacket, he points to upstairs, where the washing machine is at. "Your role, your responsibility, code 015."

Code 015, Ichigo, sighs.

—-

Hiro is standing in front of the front door, which is left unopened. He is struggling to even put his hand on the door's handle.

02 lays her body on the door Hiro is supposed to open. She giggles when Hiro pulls his hand away from the door handle

After 02 noticed how Hiro had been much more sluggish when after she taken off the jacket and left herself bare, she made him a simple challenge, to open a door. She said she wanted Hiro to not be an inactive partner and this was a test he must pass. The mad man actually participated in the demon's trail.

Fought now, Hiro has to be in front of a naked 02. He's not allowed to close his eye. And he can't look away from her.

After so many failed attempts at touching the door handle, this time his slowly progresses and slowly reaches to the handle. This time, Hiro actually touches it.

02 looks at Hiro's brave hand and claps at it. "You know, if I can go out like this, you don't need the clothes on you."

Hiro hesitates to let go of the door. He gives 02 a painful expression that rises his eyes and tightens his lips to form an upside down smile.

"Aside from the eyepatch, of course!" She says.

Hiro tries to ignore what she says, he turns the door handle. "Game's over, 02."

02 steps away for the door. "Awwww. Next time, I wouldn't make it this easy"

Hiro is terrified.

Hiro opens the door quickly to release all of the urge and stress that challenge has built up. Instead, fear rudely comes to him.

Outside, there is a neatly dressed tall figure that blocks away the delightful morning sun just by standing in front of it. The well-posed figure castes an enormous shadow over Hiro and 02. The enforcer is here.


End file.
